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COVID-19 -Your digital strategy

If you run a business that requires social gatherings in some sort, you are likely being affected by the coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19. By now I am assuming that you have addressed how to get company information into the hands of employees and customers. The way that we interact with technology, or in some cases, failed to interact with technology is now  more then ever at the forefront of our business continuity plans.

We just want to let you know that Melken Solutions will be here to help you address your business information management needs now and after the economy recovers from the COVID-19 outbreak.

We have solutions for:

  • Information Management
  • Document Conversion
  • Document Management
  • E-publishing
  • Transcription

If you need help with your COVID-19 strategy, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

 

 

What Can You Tell Me About Document Management?

Document management involves the day-to-day capture, storage, modification and sharing of physical and/or electronic files within an organization.

Generally speaking, document management focuses on:

  • Reducing lost and misfiled documents.
  • Providing faster search and retrieval of documents.
  • Helping to better organize existing documents.
  • Improving general work processes and organizational efficiency.
  • Reducing the amount of physical space used to store documents, such as file cabinets, boxes and shelving.

Primary Goal

The goal of document management is efficiency. Approving documents faster, reducing manual data entry and automating recurring tasks are some of the many functions of document management that work toward this goal.

Want to learn more? Contact Melken Solutions for additional information.

Outsource or not?

In the current environment, it is important that organizations find ways to stand out, tighten their operations, and increase their revenues while keeping expenses low. As many businesses struggle to stay ahead of the competition, the day-to-day operations of the business are more than enough to keep management busy, especially in smaller businesses where owners or managers wear many hats. Choosing to use an experienced outsourcing partner may allow businesses the ability to grow, rather than simply attempting to maintain the status quo.

Experienced vendor partners also provide a significant amount of value for an organization. They can help to develop strategies for growth or manage projects. Since vendor partners are not committed to a single organization, they bring experience from a variety of companies and industries, which allows them to offer creative solutions and enables “out of the box” thinking. They can vendor-partnerprovide an objective viewpoint, which allows for more diverse ideas than could be provided solely by employees within the organization. A vendor partner may have a higher level of business expertise than the average employee and can provide unique solutions for businesses. Companies may want to consider the advantages of the level of expertise that can be brought by an experienced vendor partner, as well as how they could benefit from having an established strategic plan.

Business Advantages For Electronic Documents Over Paper Documents

Recent statistics on document management suggest that over 80% of companies still run their business with information that still exists in a paper-based format. If you’re a millennial this may seem unbelievable to you. If you grew up watching TV before the Internet, that statistic does not seem odd, does it?

Regardless of your age, electronic documents have boundless appeal as the preferred medium for content creation, storage, editing, and dissemination.

Here are some specific benefits your organization will enjoy after making the shift from paper documents to electronic documents to run your business.

  • Save Space – Think of the number of hardcopy documents you produce every day. Where do they all go?
  • Disaster-Proof – Why does it take horrible disasters like a hurricane, fire or flood to make people think defensively? If your business faced some form of disaster, do you have a business continuity plan that includes access to your important business records? Electronic documents give you an advantage over the unexpected.
  • Editable – Most business documents require edits and revisions during their life cycle, especially those that require collaboration or multiple parties participating in the content creation. Electronic files allow for easy editing and version control that keeps the content fresh and accessible to all approved parties.
  • Loss Prevention – According to a study conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers 7% of all paper-based information gets misfiled and 3.5% of all hardcopy documents are lost. Electronic documents provide quick and easy storage and retrieval capabilities so people can easily find the files they’re looking for.
  • Security Protection – Unsecured filing cabinets, paper sitting in printer output trays and even files on people’s desks are all examples of hot spots where the wrong eyes could see what they shouldn’t. Employee records, financial information, pricing documents, and client records can be very vulnerable. Electronic documents provide access control measures for peace of mind.
  • Save Time – If a person makes $50,000 per year, they cost your company roughly $25 per hour. If this employee takes an hour searching for one or more hardcopy documents, you’ve just lost two hours of time. The hour spent searching and the hour the person could have spent using the information. Electronic documents can be located quickly without leaving your desk.
  • Find It Fast – Have you ever gone looking for a hardcopy document and found something else that was actually better for the task at hand? Sure you have. This is the power of electronic documents. Search capabilities allow you to perform a search, much like doing a search on Google, on all the information that relates to the topic at hand. Being able to search content topics allows for faster recovery and better business decisions.
  • Document Management – Email is not a document management system built for sharing information, even though most people try to use it as such! Sharing the correct version of the right document can be challenging in an online workgroup setting. Electronic documents break down silos of storage and accessibility issues so all members can collaborate on documentation to achieve the best result.
  • Save Money – Depending on the type of printer you are using, a printed page will cost you anywhere from a penny to a dollar. Electronic documents cost you nothing. This is why so many companies are leveraging scanning as their on-ramp to digital documents. Printing less will cost less.

Are you leveraging electronic documents yet? Maybe now is the time for you to start with an electronic document strategy.

Contact Melken Solutions to learn more.

Why Should You Scan Your Documents?

There are several beneficial reasons you should scan your documents:

  1. Cost savings: Storing and managing paper documents is expensive, especially if you rely on file cabinets for document storage and retrieval. A standard four-drawer file cabinet requires approximately eight cubic feet of floor space, which can be a significant portion of your office lease. In addition to that, you need to factor in the cost of time for you or your employees to find and retrieve documents. Document scanning allows you to store and retrieve documents electronically, which reduces storage costs and provides greater work efficiency.
  2. Information sharing: Paper-based systems are inherently inefficient. Documents need to be printed or photocopied so several people can view them at the same time. Document scanning enables information to be shared digitally for enhanced collaboration and improved customer response times.
  3. Environmental stewardship: Document scanning benefits both your business and the environment. By converting your hard copy records to digital images, you use less paper and toxic printer ink and reduce mailing processes that increase your carbon footprint. 
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